Equestriastuck
by Hazelshade12
Summary: A mare stands in her bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 25th of October is this mare's birthday! It not just her birthday, but also the day that this mare and her five friends are going to play a game known as SHERD. What will this mare's name be?
1. Twilight: Fondly Regard Begining

**Hey guys, Hazelshade here. I have finally gotten off my lazy butt and decided to write more fanfiction. For the first time since April, I am working on a multi-chapter fanfic and I'm really hoping to finish it, but it will probably take a while because of lyrics. Sorry if this chapter isn't too great, but I just want to get most of the exposition out of the way. Anyways, read, review, and most importantly, enjoy!**

**And by the way, Happy 10/25 everybody!**

A mare stands in her bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 25th of October is this mare's birthday! It not just her birthday, but also the day that this mare and her five friends are going to play a game known as SHERD. What will this mare's name be?

Your name is Twilight Sparkle. As previously mentioned, today you are going to play a mysterious game file known as SHERD. This strange file was sent to you via P-Mail. You thought you had received this file by accident, that is until you discovered that your other friends had received the same file. However, you do not know that you will play it yet, as you have put off playing for as long as possible, mainly because no matter how hard you look, you can't find any information about this game, and you don't know how to play it, or what will happen when you install it. You've decided you were not going to play it until you found enough information about it. Right now, it seems that you will not be playing the game for a very long time.

You walk over to your computer. You bought this not to long ago, when Carrot, the leading electronic producer in Equestria started selling them. Before you can begin another fruitless search to find more info about the game, you are notified from PonyMingle, an instant messaging service that came with every new computer. One of your friends is trying to talk to you, and you decide to respond to see what she wants.

laboriousHarvester [LH] began mingling with studiousProtégé [SP]

LH: Howdy twilight!

LH: Are ya there?

SP: I am now.

SP: What do you need?

LH: First of all happy birthday!

SP: Thank you!

LH: Sorry i couldnt get you a present

LH: 'Been so busy here on the farm i was too busy to get you somethin

SP: That's okay.

SP: Besides, I'm sure EC will make up for it.

LH: I suppose yer right

LH Anyway thats not the only reason im here

LH: I wanted to talk to you about this SHERD thingy

LH: I think we should start playin it soon

SP: I though we agreed we weren't going to run that thing.

SP: At least, not until we find out something about it.

SP: If we don't know what it does then we should probably leave it alone.

LH: I know but I saw a vision of up playin it in the clouds

LH: I still think its weird how I can see things in the sky but I suppose they are pretty helpful.

SP: Did you have one of those dreams again?

LH: Yeah I did

LH: I dont know why I keep having them

LH: Ever since Granny Smith had her heart attack I keep seeing this golden city in my dreams and seeing stuff in clouds

LH: Not just the future but the past too

LH: Anyway, Ive gotten to trust these visions so I'm going to play it.

LH: Feel free to join me if you want

SP: I will.

LH: Wait really?

LH: I'll admit I wasn't expectin you to agree so quickly

SP: Well, were the only ponies to receive this file right?

LH: I think so

SP: So we must have received this game for a reason.

LH: You've got a point there

SP: Did you get the others to play yet?

LH: Besides you, the only person I've gotten to join is AD but she's busy with weather patrol today

LH: That would work

LH: Only Ive got some things to take care of around the home first

LH: You think you can wait a few minutes?

SP: I can do that.

LH: Okay thanks Twi!

laboriousHarvester ceased mingling with studiousProtégé [SP]

You log out of PonyMingle and attempt to do more research, before noticing a piece of parchment and a quill beside you. An idea forms in your head. Of course, Princess Celestia will know something about the game. You are metaphorically slapping yourself in the face for not thinking of it sooner. You pick up the quill using your magic and start writing.

_Dear Princess Celestia:_

_While I have been actively studying the magic of friendship, it is not the subject I'd like to bring up today. A few days ago, my friends and I received a game file known as SHERD. I've researched it ever since I received it, but I have not found any research on it. One of my friends has had a dream convincing her that we should start playing it. I still do not think it's a good idea, but I also believe that my friend is telling the truth, and that she is right. I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about this game, what it is or how to play it. I await your imminent response._

_Your faithful student,_

_Twilight Sparkle._

You Captchalogue your note into your Sylladex. With every Carrot product, a free fetch modus was included with the device. Your modus is the Library modus. One item is stored for each letter of the alphabet, and must be used in a certain window of time before it is returned to your Sylladex and is locked for a certain amount of time. For example, the letter goes into the L card of your deck, and you certainly hope that sending it off to the princess will make it count as "used". The Sylladex also came with a programmable strife card, but you haven't found a need for it yet. With the letter secured in your Sylladex, you run downstairs to find your dragon assistant. However, he is not here, and a quick look outside tells you that he is outside. You exit the house.

The sidewalks are bare of any passing ponies. Wind whistles around you, playing a single, haunting note, sounding played to cause the audience to be glued to their seats in anticipation. Unlike the past twenty birthdays you have experienced throughout your life, something seems different about it. It seems the atmosphere is perfect for the start of an adventure that will doom your race to extinction and leave you struggling to escape it. However, you do not realize this yet and all you feel is anticipation. You anticipate the moment when you will open up your P-mail and discover what awaits you inside. You can tell that this is the beginning of something very excellent.

"The great miraculous bell of translucent ice is suspended in mid-air. It rings to announce endings and beginnings. And it rings because there is fresh promise and wonder in the skies. Its clear tones resound in the placid silence of the winter day, and echo long into the silver-blue serenity of night. The bell can only be seen at the turning of the year, when the days wind down into nothing, and get ready to march out again. When you hear the bell, you feel a tug at your heart. It is your immortal inspiration." – Famous pony astronomer Gallopleo.

You are 99% sure that he said that.

You finishing dwelling in your thoughts and remember why you were outside in the first place. You find Spike, tending to the shrubbery adorning your treehouse home.

"Spike," you call to him, removing the letter from your sylladex "I need you to take this letter to the princess. Can you do that for me?

The young dragon nods and breathes magical green flame on the note, whisking it away to a faraway castle in Canterlot. You thank your dragon assistant before going back inside your house.

You have a feeling that it's going to be a long day.


	2. Twilight: Realize the reality of SHERD

**Bet you never thought this would be update again!**

**In all seriousness, I'm really sorry this took so long to complete. I didn't mean for it to take four freaking months to complete. I promise the next chapters will not take as long to write. Hopefully this makes up for it.**

**I have a couple of notes before I get to the chapter. First of all, I edited the first chapter to include times on the ponyMingle chats. This is so I can keep better track of the time on the cruxtruder when it comes into play.**

**Second of all, I am now making this fanfic an AU where Twilight does not become an Alicorn. This is not because I am against the concept (which I'm not), but just so some parts of this fanfiction can be made simpler. **

**Lastly, enjoy!**

You return to your room, Sure enough, she's back on and is messaging you, to which you immediately respond to.

laboriousHarvester [LH] began mingling with studiousProtégé [SP] at 11:12 am

[11:12] LH: I'm back!

[11:12] LH: So areya ready to start?

[11:12] SP: I suppose so.

[11:12] LH: Great

[11:12] LH: Just one more thing

[11:13] LH: Didnt the game come with two disks.

[11:13] SP: I think so.

[11:13] SP: There is one server disk and one client disk.

[11:13] SP: I'm not really sure what the differences between the two are, but I suppose we each pick one and then play the other one later.

[11:16] LH: How 'bout you take client and i take sever?

[11:16] SP: Sure.

You minimize PonyMingle and look at your desktop where you have placed both SHERD files. You click on the icon for the client version, which pictures a red barn broken up into pieces. A screen pops up that looks like the copyrights for this game. Underneath, a message states that you have connected to the host, who you figure is LH. It then commands you to press "enter", which you do.

The loading screen pops up, which shows a spirograph above a loading bar that seems to show things that seem completely useless. The spirograph changes shape and color over a multicolored sky while a catchy song plays in the background. After a couple minutes, the game finishes loading and the title of the game pops up.

[11:21] SP: Has your copy finished installing yet?

[11:21] SP: My copy just finished.

[11:21] LH: Just a few more seconds

[11:22] LH: Done

[11:22] LH: Whoa, I can see you twi

[11:22] SP: Really?

[11:22]SP: Mine didn't seem to do anything.

[11:23] LH: Let me try some of these here buttons

Suddenly, your toilet flies through the wall and nearly hits you in the face. You really hope you and your friend did not start playing a game about the attack of the flying toilets

[11:26] SP: You can see me right?

[11:26] SP: Tell me what's wrong with this picture.

[11:27] LH: Sorry 'bout that twi

[11:27] SP: Wait, you did that?

[11:27] LH: Yea and i'm really sorry about that

[11:28] SP: That can't be possible.

[11:28] SP: I mean, you're all the way across Ponyville. How could you possibly move my toilet from there?

[11:29] LH: Its part of this game we're playin

[11:29] LH: I guess I can move stuff and add stuff to your house and drop some gizmos.

[11:30] SP: You can manipulate reality?

[11:30] SP: I never found any evidence that it was possible.

[11:31] LH: Well there is now

[11:31] LH: Let me try out some of these features

You here a crashing sound downstairs, like your server player dropped one of the devices she was telling you about. A second one falls on your roof and a third is placed right next to you. Afterwards, a random card harmlessly falls on your face. You immediately captchalogue it for later use. After you no longer feel like an earthquake is happening in your household, you question LH about what she just did.

[11:36] LH: Done

[11:36] SP: Were you dropping those machines in my house?

[11:36] LH: Yes

[11:36] LH: Those were the only ones i could get for free

[11:37] LH: The others need gushers to use them

[11:37] SP: Gushers?

[11:37] LH: Yea gushers

[11:37] LH: Or at least somethin that looks like gushers

[11:38] SP: Do you know what they do?

[11:38] LH: Eenope

[11:38] LH: Maybe you can check it out

You examine the object that has been placed next to you. It has a square base with an LED screen on all sides. On top of the base there is a tube with a wheel on the side with a cap with a pattern of a spirograph on it. The tube looks like it contains something valuable inside, but you need to find a way to take the lid off. You use your magic to try to lift the cap off, but it's on too tight. You'll need a more powerful force to lift it off.

[11:40] SP: This lid seems to be on too tight for me to use a simple lifting a charm on it

[11:41] SP: I'm going to need to use some more powerful magic to get it off.

[11:42] LH: Let me gift you a hoof

[11:42] LH: Wait a minute

[11:42] LH: Look out Twi!

You quickly execute a SWEET DODGE to slide the proper amount of feet to avoid your priceless telescope falling right on top of the machine. The shattered remains of your telescope fly all over the room, spreading wreckage everywhere. On the positive side, you server player has succeed at getting the lid off, but at a large price.

[12:43] LH: Sorry Twi!

[11:43] SP: Was that the only way you could think of getting it off

[11:43] LH: I swear I wasn't tryin to drop a telescope on it

[11:43] SP: Well we can deal with that later.

[11:43] SP: So what is this thing anyway?

[11:44] LH: It's called a Cruxtruder

[11:44] LH: I guess it's just used to hold somethin inside it and to count down to somethin

[11:45] SP: Wait; there's a countdown on it?

[11:45] LH: Yea

[11:45] LH: Go see for yourself

You turn around and see that all four screens on the Cruxtruder have lit up, displaying the time 9:05. The countdown makes you nervous about what's to came, but you suppose that you have more imminent tasks at hand. You peer down at the now open top of the machine. You can see a violet object down there, but it's down too deep for you to grab. You remember seeing a wheel on the side of the Cruxtruder that might push the object out of the tube. Placing the wheel securely between your hooves, you spin it as fast as a can, which is just enough to push the object out. The object looks like a tube of some unknown substance that you suppose is cruxite. You also notice a strange ball of purple light is now floating above the Cruxtruder. Curious about these new, strange findings, you prepare to ask your server about it, however it seems that somepony else wants your attention.

aerialDaredevil [AD] began mingling with studiousProtégé [SP] at 11:52am

[11:52] AD: hey twi

[11:52] AD: not to make you make you go nuts or anything but

[11:53] AD: theres a meteor coming straight for your house

[11:55] SP: What?

[11:55] SP: Don't try to trick me again.

[11:55] SP: I am in the middle of something right now.

[11:56] AD: could you get your snout out of your books for one minute

[11:57] AD: trust me im not pulling your hoof this time

[11:58] AD: go see for yourself

You look outside your window and your hoof remains unpulled. Not only is there a meteor the size of Saddle Arabia coming for your house, but there is also a whole crapload of smaller ones raining all throughout Ponyville. Shrieks of ponies echo outside the library. You don't want to think about how many casualties there are and will be.

[12:03] AD: see?

[12:03] AD: is that a meteor storm or what

[12:05] AD: twilight

[12:06] SP: …You were right, but I don't understand this at all!

[12:06] SP: I mean, it was bright and sunny just an hour ago!

[12:07] SP: How can the weather turn so sour so fast?

[12:07] SP: Did you order this to happen?

[12:08] AD: of course not

[12:08] AD: i'm interrogating my crew as we speak

[12:08] AD: i specifically called for clear skies with NO chance of perspiration whatsoever

[12:09] AD: i still don't know who messed this up so bad.

[12:09] SP: I don't think this was caused by a pony

[12:10] SP: There must some outside force that is causing this to happen.

[12:11] SP: Why didn't I read anything about meteor showers before I knew that this was going to destroy Ponyville?

[12:12] SP: There's got to be a book about this somewhere!

[12:12] AD: well you can keep looking for that

[12:13] AD: i'm going to stop those meteors before they hit anypony

[12:14] SP: Are you sure that's safe?

[12:14] AD: do you think i care if it's safe

[12:15] AD: don't worry i can handle this

[12:15] SP: Just don't try to get yourself killed, okay?

[12:16] AD: i said i can handle this

[12:16] AD: see you later twi

aerialDaredevil [AD] ceased mingling with studiousProtégé [SP] at 12:17pm

Minutes in the future, (but not many) you are still Twilight Sparkle. You are currently having your daily freak-out due to knowledge withdrawal. Two hundred books lie scattered all over your floor, but none of them are related to meteor showers.

An infant dragon watches the insanity unfold. This dragon has a name that is probably not "this dragon" and would probably prefer to not be called "this dragon". What will his name be?

Your name is SPIKE. You are clutching a note in your small, scaly hand. You already know the contents of this note, contents that the pony in front of you would not want to know about.

"Hey Twilight," you call, trying to keep the anxiety out of your voice. "What are you looking for this time?"

"A book on how meteor showers occur without pony control that will possibly destroy Equestria if nothing is done to stop it," your friend hastily replies, while frantically searching for more info.

"Well um, the Princess sent me a letter about this, but I don't think you're going to like what it says…"

The mare's expression turns into one of delight. "How could I not like a letter from the Princess with information that I need?" she exclaims. A magical force snatches the letter from your claws and pulls it in front of the unicorn's face. You watch as her exited face becomes one of shock and then one of dread.

_Dear Twilight Sparkle,_

_I am writing to you as quickly as I can, for if I am too late, it could spell doom for Equestria. I have heard about this game before, but never would I have imagined it would fall into your hooves. SHERD is no ordinary game. The moment the game is started up, a fleet of meteors breaks from orbit and falls to Equestria. There is no way to stop it. Once it has started, it will wipe out every pony in Equestria. I trust if you receive this letter, you will avert this crisis before it starts. The fate of Equestria rests in your hooves._

_Yours truly,_

_Princess Celestia_

Your name is Twilight Sparkle and you are currently freaking the fuck out. How could you have been so featherbrained? If your brain wasn't completely stuffed with feathers, you would have waited for the Princess's letter instead of giving in so easily to your friend's request. If you were just a smidge more patient, Equestria would not be doomed, and most importantly, you wouldn't have failed the Princess. You would pull off an x2 Facehoof combo, but you're too busy being frozen and shock to do it.

You finally pull out of your immobile state a few minutes later. You try to look for your dragon assistant, but he has absconded, which you suppose is the smart thing to do. The sound of your PonyMingle alerts barely breaks through your haze. Another one of your friends must have heard the news and has decided to message you about it, but she's not the pony you want to talk to right now. The pony you do want to talk to right now, is the one pony that got you into this mess.

[12:20] LH: Twilight?

[12:22] LH: Did AD tell ya 'bout the meteor storm too?

[12:23] LH: No offence twi but i don't think a book can stop a meteor shower

[12:25] LH: Yer not listenin are ya?

[12:30] LH: Twi?

[12:31] LH: What'd the princess say?

[12:35] LH: It's not good isn't it?

[12:38] SP: It's all my fault.

[12:38] LH: Whatya mean twi?

[12:38] SP: The meteor shower, the destruction of Equestria, the murder of innocent ponies, it's all my fault.

[12:39] SP: The princess sent me a letter. She told me everything.

[12:40] SP: It's SHERD.

[12:40] SP: When the game is started, it brings a fleet of meteors down on the world below.

[12:42] SP: This doesn't even make any sense! How can some game bring a fleet of meteors down to Equestria?

[12:43] SP: Still, I know the princess wouldn't lie to me, so it must be the truth.

[12:45] LH: Dont beat yourself up for this sugarcube

[12:45] LH: It was my idea to play this stupid thing in the first place

[12:45] LH: All because of some dream i had…

[12:46] SP: You still needed a second player for this game.

[12:47] SP: I told myself I wouldn't get involved in this before I had proper information about it.

[12:48] SP: However, I still agreed to join you before I knew anything about it, because I believed that it was our destiny to play it.

[12:50] SP: Because of this, Equestria is doomed.

[12:50] SP: Every pony in Equestria is going to die…

[12:50] SP: Not only that, but I failed the princess…

[12:51] LH: Don't give up hope yet sugarcube

[12:51] LH: Youre not goi'n to die

[12:52] LH: Theres more to that cloud dream I had

[12:52] SP: Well, your "cloud dreams" sort of ended up destroying Equestria.

[12:53] LH: Areya callin me a liar?

[12:53] LH: If theres on thing i don't do, its lie

[12:54] LH: I told ya that I saw a cloud with you watchin that trippy loadin screen and that happened right?

[12:55] LH: That isn't lyin

[12:55] SP: That still doesn't mean your dreams are trustworthy!

[12:55] SP: I have to find another way to fix this.

[12:56] SP: Maybe there's a spell I can you to reverse the effects of this game.

[12:57] LH: Will you just listen to me for a sec twi?

[12:57] LH: Twi?

studiousProtégé [SP] ceased mingling with laboriousHarvester [LH] at 12:58 pm.

[12:58] LH: Oh horseapples!

[12:59] LH: Twi, I don't know if your ever goi'n to read this, but if you are, listen up

[1:00] LH: I'm not goi'n to let you die

[1:00] LH: I promise that we're going to make it out alive

[1:01] LH: Somehow.


End file.
